One of the world's leading players in research and development equipment has reduced its candidate handling time by 75 per cent after it invested in Eploy®'s revolutionary applicant tracking and recruitment software system.

Oxford Instruments, a UK-based company that designs and manufactures tools for industry and research, moved all its global recruitment requirements for permanent positions in-house after being impressed with Eploy®'s flexible cloud recruitment software.

The FTSE 250 company, which employs 2,000 people and operates in Europe, USA, and Asia, needed a first-class, yet simple and effective system that would alleviate the administrative burden and time-to-hire problems that HR staff were faced with.

The in-house recruitment team went from using spreadsheets to manually handle 50-60 permanent vacancies a year to more than 200 after the company grew rapidly as a result of acquisitions and organic growth, which saw an increase in profits of 76 per cent.

Vicki Potter, Oxford Instruments' Recruitment Manager, said she was impressed with Eploy®'s approach to what was a major project for the large, multi-national company. Eploy®'s technical team listened carefully to its needs and worked to customise the software so that it complemented its operations, she said.

Key to their requirements were reducing administration, good CV parsing technology, a feature rich career portal, powerful search tools and management reporting.

"We needed a dynamic applicant tracking and recruitment system that could provide enhanced job and candidate search facilities, link and integrate with advertising job boards and process CV applications in an efficient way," explained Vicki.

After looking at five leading systems, Oxford Instruments opted for Eploy®'s clean and efficient web-based technology. Other systems that it looked at were based on old style applicant tracking databases and would have "forced" changes in the way it handled recruitment.

"We didn't want the system just to be a 'clunky database system' because in the industries in which we work, the skills change as technology changes," said Vicki. "We don't want to search a database for a candidate whose skills might now be out of date."

Eploy® demonstrated that it could enhance the front-end application process / candidate experience and that it was "scalable", which means Oxford Instruments has the flexibility to bolt on different modules as it requires them. The user friendly career portal allows candidates from all over the world to easily find and apply for suitable vacancies. Eploy®'s software system is web-based and, unlike some of its competitors, works on all browsers, enabling users to access the system from multiple devices like smartphones, tablets and Macs.

"We are very happy with the Eploy® system; it is very intuitive and provides a lot of functionality and management reporting features that are ideal for our needs," said Vicki, who has also recommended the system to Mane Contracting Services, the RPO that manages its contractors and temporary positions.

The CV parsing technology automatically processes any CV format with 95 per cent accuracy, which means that recruitment staff can manipulate data and accurately match candidates to roles.

"This not only saves time during the recruitment process but means we can quickly pre-sort applications before sending them instantly to line managers across the UK and abroad via Eploy®'s Hiring Manager portal," said Vickiy.

"It is future-proof, flexible, reliable and easy to keep up-to-date and maintain. Ultimately it means that our recruiters can focus on making sure the candidate and client experience is the best it can be."

Chris Bogh, Technical Director at Eploy®, said its customisable systems were increasingly in demand from global businesses that needed flexible and efficient ways of working.

"Businesses demand systems that are reliable, adaptable and user-friendly," he explained.

"Because we tailor our systems for individual companies, there is no 'one style fits all' solution. We pride ourselves on listening carefully to what a business needs and looking carefully at how it operates so we can advise on the best way to configure their system."

Reducing the administrative burden for the recruitment team was central to the Oxford Instruments brief so Eploy's ability to automate and streamline many tasks was perfect for them.

"Having a system such as Eploy® that will continually evolve to each client's needs means that Oxford Instruments is easily able to update its technology quickly and inexpensively and take advantage of new recruitment trends as they happen, said Chris.

"Our recruitment software is flexible to the needs of individual companies, but the result is the same: much faster processing and tracking of candidates though the recruitment process."